More than half of the students entering kindergarten at Cincinnati Public Schools lack essential skills needed for academic success. They quickly fall behind their peers -- and never catch up. 

Hamilton County Child Care, a division of the county’s Department of Job and Family Services, is teaming with the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and 4C for Children to address this situation with Early Learning Express.

Early Learning Express will help in-home child care providers improve the readiness of children for kindergarten.  In the project, Child Care, 4C and the library will identify 50 Type B child care providers to get tools and training for helping kids with pre-literacy skills such as letter knowledge and vocabulary. Type B providers receive certification from Hamilton County Child Care that allows them to care for children in low-income families who receive vouchers from the department. They can have up to six children in the home.

“This is an opportunity that often happens in center settings,” said Melissa Graves, Child Care section chief. “For a home provider to have a chance to get this service shows that the push for kindergarten readiness is starting to reach a population of providers that are often forgotten in the early learning initiatives.” 

All child care providers selected for the project will come from a neighborhood served by one of the library’s urban branches. Using grant funds, the library will purchase kits for each child care provider on three different themes. 

Each provider will be visited three times over the one-year grant period.  The kits, including a selection of books, will be delivered by a library representative and remain with the child care provider.  The  provider will be taught how to use the materials in the kits to best improve pre-literacy skills in the children.  Additionally, the children’s librarian from the local branch will accompany the library staffer on one of her visits to demonstrate a reading technique.

“By providing opportunities for parents and child care providers to learn these simple techniques, we can greatly impact the lives of children in our community and improve their chances for academic and lifelong success,” said Kim Fender, executive director of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, in a blog post.

A grant from the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant, which requires a local match of 25 percent from Friends of the Library, is funding the project. 

Child Care has made great efforts to become part of initiatives that promote and support school readiness for children. 

Graves said that stressing quality, nutrition and literacy produces a winning combination for children in the care of the selected home providers.  

In addition to the tools that they receive from the library, the selected providers will also receive a tub of supplies from Hamilton County JFS that they can use with the children to continue to promote early learning once the project is completed.    

The University of Cincinnati will evaluate the success of the Early Learning Express.

”With these services we will be helping our children enter kindergarten prepared to learn and succeed,” Fender said.